Fjord: How Travis Willingham Tackled the Lie of Masculinity

Masculinity is not a Lie people just dont know what it really is. a real Masculine man does not be a monster to be a monster he is a monster when he has to be he is a monster when he is needed to be and knows how to control being a monster and does not let anyone or anything change him or his goals or who he is. a man is not sweet nor nice a man is a monster yet not a monster he is tender and fair not unfair or unjust a real man cares about his body and does not let it get obese but healthy or strong in physical sense as well as the mental sense. a man respects all life but understands he must some times take life to save the life he loves. a man respects women as a person not as a tool or a car or a sexual object, BUT a man also only needs one woman he only needs the woman to love him and love his goals if she does not love both him and his goals the woman is merly not a woman OR just not the woman for him but for another.

insert dax song here.

kool analysis of fjord really enjoyed it

I have to disagree on one point he wanted to be like vandrin because people listened to him he admired that about him.

Ah yes… masculinity bad.
What.

Not a lot. He failed his own arc, and what replaced it was fairly hollow and boring by comparison. Months at sea being pirates, only for him to not pull through at the end.

Fjord is Kenough

I hadn't seen that topic explored before, but instead saw it as a POC embracing their own skin and identity who they are outside of their community..

Filing the tusks was the most blatant internalized racism I have ever seen. Which is not unheard of for biracial individuals who are not raised around their cultures.. I definitely agree with the masculinity thing

I mostly saw toxic relationship and finding who you are after you leave it but hey maybe there's more to it

Don't be soft, masculinity is always a good thing if you're a man

Also. If you watch the M9 reunited series, we find out that U’katoa was created by Zehir who was an evil betrayer god. His arc really revolves around all these concepts so well. Fjord wasn’t the most out there character. It’s so well constructed and like you said not-pandering. The combination of not having anyone care for him as a child. Then getting support and care from Vandarin. Losing it and being used again. This time by (I think a demigod?). While Caleb and Beau were “louder” characters with world changing goals that always took up space. Fjord was happy to help and be in the background. And in the retrospective closing episode thing they do, Matt and Travis talk about Fjord. Travis said him and Fjord didn’t think that finding biological parents isn’t really an important thing since there’s more important things. I get the feeling that Fjord May be a little autobiographical for Travis.

Great video but calling false stoicism masculine and ford pretending to be stoic wasn’t masculine it was immature and I would say he became masculine after he decided to do what was truly right regardless of his own loss.

No such thing as toxic masculinity

I disagree that this is about masculinity. I think its a struggle for identity or individuality. One that either gender can experience. Lets not pretend that women dont have role models they try to live up to that can be just as unhealthy for them in other ways. I really hate the term 'Toxic Masculinity', afterall the very thing that is unhealthy for one person can be the perfect answer for another person's struggle...

Fjord is actually my favorite character of the mighty nein

laura bailey is honestly such a good human being; and an even greater DnD player.

being a man in modern society it’s so natural to have barriers on all sides of you. and i feel like even when Travis Willingham is a professional actor it can be hard to break those barriers even when playing DnD.

i just respect Laura for helping travis progress this character, and the fact that she could notice the little details / cracks in “fjord”. His personality was just waiting to be discovered like true gold.

me being a normal guy, it would’ve been almost impossible to support travis in this way, so it’s amazing for me to see a woman who is willing to bridge the gap.

"without pandering"

how could something possibly be pandering if you genuinely want to explore it lol

One of my favorite things Critical Role does is how they portray warlocks and their patrons.
Seriously, think if the patron isn't a character in the story, you aren't really playing a warlock.

It took me 2-3 years to be fjord as a man.

That pressure comes from patriarchy. The patriarchy hurts men too.

This is not a lie of masculinity. Men instinctively know that society doesn’t pay attention when a man is failing and needs help. Other men will reach out but women and lovers only let men get too open and dependant before ultimately leaving. This is why men attempt to strengthen themselves by keeping things close to the chest because we know that if we can handle a bad situation, the next one will be easier to handle, alone

“There is no shame in being weak, there is shame in staying weak” is a quote that I’ve heard before that I think would apply to Fjord’s story

Masculinity is a lie now?

I'm loving that there is a movement of men helping other men learn to be themselves to counter the Andrew Tate's of the world. Embrace who you are first, and don't be afraid to let people in emotionally, and to express yourself.

I’m sorry, lie of masculinity?

I think the issue with masculinity is the mythos the other side created it is toxic, it is bad. Masculinity also means not having a memory and not telling anything that would embarrass their former partner, and it got twisted into toxic masculinity that it does. Masculinity is to endure insults, and not retaliate and they said it does. It means getting hit by their parents without retaliation. I meant to be stoic, but not stubborn. It meant honor and to do the right thing.

Masculinity is not a macho thing. Masculinity was meant to accept loses, to accept being wrong. Accept that one can't do things yet, and work hard to make them happen. It meant to realize one weakness and work hard for it, but modern world bastardized the meaning of the word. Masculinity is a word with a lost definition and used against those who were good people. I don't think it is a good exploration since it doesn't explore who bastardized it.

If anything, I'm glad webcomics are bringing up masculinity. Tough, but loving parents who take pride on their son, but have to endure for their family's sake. We are getting that word back.

I'm not sure, if there is a "lie of masculinity". There are some people who claim that there is a "toxic masculinity" and "healthy masculinity". I just think that there are good people and shitty people, and they would be good or bad even if the person would be a woman... And for Fjord? I think that Vandren's influence was actually good for him, because Vandren was a good person and thanks to him and also to Caduceus, he eventually made the right choices.

The Gospel of Fjord

I agree with what you are saying about masculinity and needing to admit you need help sometimes. But i honestly dont see much of this in fjord. I thought his journey was more about figuring out who he was in genera

Doesn't Fjord''s death occur after he becomes a paladin of the Wild Mother? They are on the trip to make peace with the Dynasty...

The only toxic thing about masculinity is his absence.

The lie of masculinity? Travis is the embodiment of masculinity. Strong. Capable. Dangerous. Kind. Caring. A leader. Fjord is the most like Travis of any of his characters, so wheres the lie?

I won’t lie I miss the old voice.

Masculinity isn't toxic its the idea that theres only 1 way to exspress it is.

The idea of fjord shaving his tusks and altering his identity to fit a cleaner idea of his self. A father figure who he desperately wants to live up to the memory of. He tries to fit the mold, wear the boots that dont fit. He wasnt honest with others because he wasnt honest with himself. Some of this may be connected to masculinity and the expectations men feel like they need to live up to. But i feel like its more than that, not just masculine but feeling like an "other" in a place where you want to fit in. It was identity and purpose that fjord was searching for, and by the end it looked like he found both

This has nothing to do with masculinity. His patron didn't tell him to pretend to be manly to get stronger to protect his friends. You're projecting hard asl. All Ford did was use an accent. It's amazing how you can make a deep dive and still come out with a twisted version of your events to project your own views of masculinity

The problem is not in seeking help but rather in the inability for it to be provided, specially to man. Welcome to the real world.

is it tackling masculinity? because patriarchal values and expectations are not representative of masculinity as a whole

I dont get it. the Lie of Masculinity? I think its the lie of false masculinity.

To be fair, the internet has absolutely no idea what masculinity is, so don't bother looking for it in here. Talk to men you admire and respect in real life, that's where you find what it trully means.

Always loved Fjord's character, but that moment of rejection of his patron with the sword absolutely blew my mind. That was such a great, brave act and such a massive character development step.

Boooo, this wanst the point

I’m playing a Hexblade his origins are a large secret even to himself. How I play it is he moves with great purpose, speaks clearly and directly and gives a very Rom Swanson vibe, but in reality he’s lost, he’s lonely and he’s angry at himself almost all the time when he fails he blames himself harshly

Red pill bros say that masculinity is having respect for no one and treating women as objects, but Fjord had respect, he didn't go around as a whore-monger, his most respect was directed especially at women. Travis portrayed Fjord a gentleman very well. He even asks for her hand in marriage at the very end.

a player who is an actor, playing an actor, who is itself acting like someone else. all this being visible yet never explained in game is something you can only meet in a long-form impro game like dnd because media doesn't know how to show without exposition.

Well the comment section did not pass the vibe check

One of my favorite moments from campaign 2 is fjord, recently depowered, using nothing but a magic whip and his own strength to stop a burrowing word from escaping with one of his unconscious friends.

What else??

Lmao, refjorged

This comment once addressed something else, but I wanted to comment on the constant claims that I 'hate masculinity'. I do not. In fact, I view myself as a masculine figure proudly. There is nothing wrong with being a man. Unfortunately, many people take being a man to mean 'never be disrespected, never feel emotions, project false confidence to mask insecurity'.... That is not masculinity. That is cowardice.

Fjord, at the beginning of his story, pretended to be Vandrin in order to project masculinity. Over the course of the story, however, he learned to find his own inner confidence and self, at which point his masculinity became not a mask but instead who he truly was. That was what this video was about. Fjord was masculine. Being a man is not wrong. Believing that one must project masculinity or else you are worthless is harmful, and yes... Toxic.

People are different, not everyone is the same. Please embrace and celebrate who you are. If that is being a man, I'm so proud of you, truly. But those who desire not to be masculine are not any less than you.